Jay Johnson

Boston Billy

Plantar fascitis PF

these exercises have been known as a cure for PF for 3-1/2 years now. About 50% of the people taught had a full recovery. Another 25% got some relief from the pain. And the final 25% got nothing - sorry.

Here's hoping you'll be in that 50% ...

EXERCISE 1: TOWEL TOE CURLS1. Sit barefooted in a chair with a towel spread on the floor in front of you (like David Olds in the photo at the right).2. Using your toes, drag the towel toward you, arching your foot until you've reeled in the entire towel (just slide the towel behind your heels as it bunches beneath your arch).3. Do the whole towel 2 or 3 times.Hint: Remember that this isn't a competition! Don't curl too hard or too fast. Also, setting a shoe on the far end of the towel prevents the towel from rebounding with each toe curl.EXERCISE 2: FOOT ORBITS, FOOT GAS PEDALS, & FOOT ALPHABET

1. Use 1 of the 2 positions modeled by masters runner Grace Padilla. Either lie on the floor, one leg flat, toes pointed up, with the opposite leg raised, bent 90 degrees at the knee (and propped by your hands). Or else lie with one knee bent, foot flat on the floor, and the other knee drawn towards you and held just below the kneecap. 2. Perform 1 or 2 of these 3 exercises:

1. Lying on your back with one knee bent, foot flat on the floor, and the other leg raised and straightened with thighs parallel, hook a rolled beach towel around your forefoot and gently pull back your toes.

2. Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat with the opposite legHint: Flex the raised thigh for maximum release (and flexibility) in the calf. Don't force this stretch! It's about loosening the calf, not stretching it like taffy.

EXERCISE 4: BEACH TOWEL HAMSTRINGS

1. Lying on your back with one knee bent, foot flat on the floor, and the other knee raised and straightened, hook your rolled beach towel around your arch and pull the leg vertically, while pulling back gently on the foot.2. Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat with the opposite legHint: Only pull the raised leg to your natural - and comfortable - limit of flexibility.

And guess what? ... That's it!

Do these exercises every day after you run - before you run if you're suffering from PF right now and need some relief just to get out the door. And do them every day for a couple weeks. And then make them part of your regular post-run routine.

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Watson training week

mon march 25: am, 80min easy, Quads are feeling the effects of the grind. Them bastards are sore! 12

pm: 60 easy, um…not much to say, let’s carry on. 8

Tues 26: 90min, only gonna run once today, gotta roll tomorrow and wanna be spry. I can do that at his point, we’re close enough that missing a run is worth the freshness. 13

Wed 27: Workout; 4x3km w/1km float rest. 8:44(3:27), 8:51(3:29), 9:02(3:29), 8:52. 15km in 45:57. That workout was rad, super pumped. Ran hard during the 3kms but recovered pretty well on the floats. Ran at Keane loop, 3rd 3km was challenging, it’s the hilliest one and we had some wind out there also. 16 on the session.

Sun 31st: workout; 30km breakdown. Supposed to cut down each 10km section…didn’t quite workout that way. We wanted to roll at Louisa, it is a nice smooth rolling dirt road, perfect for tempo. We got there and the road had been freshly graded, gravel was loose as hell! not cool, I’m finicky about this stuff because I have super tempermental hammies and slipping around on shitty footing tends to get them fired up. But, we decided to give it a try anyways…

First 10km section was supposed to be @3:12/km, I went 31:58 but it was kinda annoying, couldn’t get a firm foot plant and was working too hard as I was spinning the wheels. we decided to run up a few km to a county road.

Next 10km was supposed to get quicker…It didn’t. Ran 2more km on the gravel, was only hitting 3:16′s here, if I kept fighting the terrain I was gonna be in for a long day, so was just chilling waiting for the road. Hit the road and life was good! This road was quite rolling and the combo of fighting the gravel and these new challenges were beating me up. went 31:59 for this 10km.

Last 10km, not gonna lie, I was suffering. Managed to grind out a 32:13. 136:10 for 30km.

Initially I was pissed after this workout. I had been killing everything and wanted to keep rolling! After some time and thought we figure that this wasn’t that bad! It was good for my brain to have to suffer for a good 16km, keep pushing and stay positive. It was good to be tired whilst rolling up and over some serious climbs-awesome course prep! It was also good to have a not so great workout to be reminded how hard this can be! My fueling was spot on, managed 60g carb/hour with no stomach issues or anything, good stuff.

Anyways, that was just fine. 26mile day.

week; Last full week of the build-up! Had my best workout and my least best workout (still wasn’t bad) okay, so let’s taper shall we? 124total.